


Five Years Later

by Wreck



Series: 20 fics in 20 days [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Auror Partners, Gen, Not Epilogue Compliant, Slash Goggles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-15 06:02:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1294072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wreck/pseuds/Wreck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“So, this is awkward,” Harry said with an apologetic smile and a shrug. He fiddled with the coffee cup in front of him, not quite making eye contact with his companion across the table. </p>
<p>“Yes,” Draco gritted out. “But it’s good to know that you haven’t lost the ability to state the obvious, Potter.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Years Later

**Author's Note:**

> Totally Not Epilogue Compliant. Not sorry.
> 
> un beta'd. all mistakes are my own.

“So, this is awkward,” Harry said with an apologetic smile and a shrug. He fiddled with the coffee cup in front of him, not quite making eye contact with his companion across the table. 

“Yes,” Draco gritted out. “But it’s good to know that you haven’t lost the ability to state the obvious, Potter.”

Harry’s head snapped up and he stared Draco down across the table. 

“Look, this obviously wasn’t my idea. Kingsley thinks that––“

“I know what Kingsley thinks,” Draco snapped, cutting Harry off. 

“Then you know I didn’t,” Harry paused, searching for the right words, “that I’m here because it’s the right thing to do. That while I know we would both prefer to be working with other people, this,” he gestured between the two of them, “will help. Probably more than anything else we could do.”

Draco sighed and pushed away his untouched coffee, leaning forward on his elbows. “To be honest,” Draco started and paused as Harry tried to cover a snort by coughing and then taking a quick sip of his coffee. Draco rolled his eyes and tried again, “To be honest, I didn’t think we’d have to have to talk about this, but maybe I was wrong.”

Harry frowned. “Talk about what?”

“Come on, Potter,” Draco insisted. “Everything that happened afterwards. You helped send my father to prison,” Draco said with heat.

“What did you expect––“

Draco cut Harry off again, but this time with a much softer voice, “But then you got up there, in front of the Wizengamot, and defended my mother. And me.”

“Of course I did,” Harry snapped. “You saved my life. You both did.” He paused, weighing his words. “But I’m not sorry about your father.”

“No,” Draco said sadly. “I wouldn’t think you would be.”

“But I was right about you, wasn’t I?” Harry asked. “If I wasn’t, you wouldn’t be here. Not like this.”

“Don’t get cocky,” Draco warned. “I’m not here because of you.”

“Why are you here then?” Harry asked, leaning forward and studying Draco’s face. 

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” Draco growled. “I know the lines I’m meant to say: That I’m sorry for what I’ve seen and done. That I want to make amends for my family.”

“Do you?”

“Maybe this is just something I want for myself. Maybe it’s just what I wanted do to,” Draco snapped. 

“It’s been over five years,” Harry said after a moment. “A person can change a lot in that time.”

Draco offered Harry a small smile, and it struck Harry that this smile was different than any other he had seen on the other man in the dozen or so years they had known each other. It wasn’t a sneer, and it wasn’t the smug victorious smile that had been flashed at him so many times in the halls of Hogwarts. It was small, and maybe a little sad; it was real. 

“I guess the question then, is if they’ll accept the change,” Draco said, head bowed towards the table. “If they believe it. If they believe me.”

Harry took in the sight of his one-time nemesis, now wearing modest robes and without air of superiority surrounding him. For the first time he saw more of the Black Family resemblance in him and that made him think of Sirius, and Andromeda, and the unsung hero, Regulus, and even Draco’s own mother. 

Harry took in the sight of his new partner, humbled and sitting as if awaiting judgment. He was shocked to realize that he felt none of the old animosity towards the other man. Instead he felt hope, and a shimmer of something else, deep and new and raw.

“Well, I don’t know about you,” Harry said finally, coming to a decision. “But I think that when new partners are assigned, it’s something that should be celebrated over drinks.”

Draco’s head snapped up, and a more familiar smirk curled his lips. “Drinks?” he sneered, more out of habit than anything else. 

“Of course,” Harry said casually. “If we can survive the evening drinking a truly heroic amount of firewhisky, then we can do anything together.”

The genuine smile that Harry had seen moments ago replaced the smirk as Draco understood what Harry was offering: to drink to the past, but forge new shared experiences; a chance to start over. 

“Fine,” Draco agreed, “but I pick the bar and you’re buying, Potter.”

Harry laughed and clapped Draco on the shoulder as they headed for the door, tucking their new Auror badges safely away inside their robes. “Whatever you say, Malfoy. Whatever you say.”


End file.
